---
name: rheumatology-assessment
description: Use when asked to administer, score, or explain a Rheumatology Assessment — disease activity evaluation using DAS28 — grounded in FormExamples/form-examples.
---

# Rheumatology Assessment

Rheumatological evaluation using the DAS28 (Disease Activity Score in
28 joints), with joint assessment, laboratory results, and
extra-articular features.

## Scoring

**Instrument:** DAS28 — a continuous score.

- **< 2.6** — remission.
- **2.6–3.2** — low activity.
- **3.2–5.1** — moderate activity.
- **> 5.1** — high activity.

## What it covers

Demographics; chief complaint; joint assessment; disease history;
extra-articular features; laboratory results; current medications;
allergies; functional assessment; and comorbidities with social
history.

## Common pitfalls

- **Scoring joints inconsistently between visits** — DAS28 depends on a
  standardized joint examination (the same 28 joints, consistently
  assessed for tenderness and swelling); inconsistent technique between
  assessors undermines its value for tracking disease activity over
  time.
- **Missing extra-articular features** — several rheumatological
  conditions have significant extra-articular manifestations (eye,
  skin, lung, cardiovascular); a joint-only assessment can miss these
  entirely.
- **Treating DAS28 remission as meaning treatment can stop** — clinical
  decisions about tapering or stopping treatment require more context
  (sustained remission duration, imaging, risk of flare) than a single
  DAS28 reading.

## Learn more

- [FormExamples: rheumatology-assessment](https://github.com/FormExamples/form-examples/tree/main/forms/rheumatology-assessment) for the full implementation, clinical references, and worked examples.